IPhT, CEA Saclay, April 23rd-25th, 2009: Introduction

Quantum Field Theory in Extreme Environments :an international workshop and symposium to celebrate
the

60th birthdays of Jean-Paul Blaizot and Larry McLerran

CEA Saclay, Paris, France, April 23rd-25th, 2009

Description and Main topics

The tremendous success of the standard model in the last several decades as
a description of physical reality has as an important component the study of
quantum field theories in extreme environments. These have vastly improved
our understanding of the universe, from the inflationary paradigm in
cosmology, the high temperature electroweak and quark gluon transitions to
the role of primordial magnetic fields in galaxy formation and the physics
of dense stellar objects such as neutron stars and black holes. On earth,
extreme environments to investigate the behavior of quantum fields are now
routinely achieved in high energy hadron and heavy ion collisions, intense
laser fields and ultra-cold atoms. Further, the advent of high performance
computing has made feasible detailed numerical experiments of the
non-perturbative behavior of gauge theories at finite temperatures and
densities.

The purpose of the workshop and symposium "Quantum Field Theory in Extreme
Environments" is to review the latest developments and to celebrate the
scientific achievements of Jean-Paul Blaizot and Larry McLerran both of whom
turn 60th this year and have contributed very significantly to many aspects
of our understanding of the field. The meeting will take place at CEA Saclay
outside Paris from Thursday April 23rd through Friday, April 24th, 2009 - and at the IAP in downtown Paris, on Saturday, April 25th, 2009.